Former Los Angeles Kings left wing Dustin Penner signed a one-year deal with the Anaheim Ducks on July 16, 2013.
(click to view a larger image).
Photo: David Sheehan/FrozenRoyalty.net

LOS ANGELES — On July 16, veteran left wing Dustin Penner took his career full circle, returning to where his National Hockey League career began, and to where he won his first Stanley Cup in 2007, signing a one-year contract worth $2 million with the Anaheim Ducks.

That Penner would leave the Los Angeles Kings after a little more than two seasons should not come as a surprise. As previously reported in this space, the $6 million drop in the salary cap for the 2013-14 season has severely hamstrung the Kings. The only way they could have signed Penner was if he was willing to accept a very deep pay cut, deeper than the $1.25 million cut he took to sign with the Ducks.

Despite that, Penner indicated that leaving the Kings was not an easy decision.

UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENCY – DAY 1: After bidding farewell to Rob Scuderi and Brad Richardson, the Los Angeles Kings welcomed defenseman Jeff Schultz to the team, signing him to a one-year deal on Day 1 of unrestricted free agency.

LOS ANGELES — Day 1 of the feeding frenzy in the National Hockey League, otherwise known as unrestricted free agency, ended with what turned out to be a rather expected result for the Los Angeles Kings, who lost veteran, stay-at-home defenseman Rob Scuderi, after he signed a four-year contract valued at $13.5 million with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

In the end, family was the deciding factor for the two-time Stanley Cup winner, who will play his second stint with the Penguins, the team he won his first Stanley Cup with in 2009.

“Both [the Kings and the Penguins] have the ability to play deep into the spring,” Scuderi told the media during a conference call. “But Pittsburgh is much closer geographically to where I am from, and I thought at my age, I wasn’t going to get this opportunity again to pull the trigger on something like this.”

Scuderi is a native of Syosset, New York, and has many relatives who reside in New York.

Will veteran defenseman Rob Scuderi re-sign with the Los Angeles Kings, or will he try the unrestricted
free agency market again?
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Photo: David Sheehan/FrozenRoyalty.net

LOS ANGELES — Now that the dust has settled after the Los Angeles Kings’ trade on June 23 that sent goaltender Jonathan Bernier to the Toronto Maple Leafs, in exchange for right wing Matt Frattin, goaltender Ben Scrivens, and a 2014 or 2015 second round draft pick (Toronto’s choice), it’s time to clean up the loose ends in the notebook…

After signing defenseman Slava Voynov, and now the Bernier trade, the Kings have $6.64 million in salary cap space available, but they also have nine players remaining on their National Hockey League roster with expiring contracts, including six restricted free agents, and three unrestricted free agents.

As stated in that June 18 story, it appears even more likely that unless veteran defenseman Rob Scuderi is willing to accept a salary lower than the $3.4 million he earned this past season, he will not return to the Kings. That said, Kings President/General Manager Dean Lombardi is working on it.

LA Kings defenseman Slava Voynov signed a
six-year deal valued at $25 million on June 18, 2013.
(click above to view larger image)
Photo: David Sheehan/FrozenRoyalty.net

EL SEGUNDO, CA — The Los Angeles Kings have certainly gotten their off-season started with a bang.

On June 18, the Kings signed restricted free agent defenseman Slava Voynov, 23, to a six-year contract that is reported to be worth $25 million, a $4.17 million per season salary cap hit.

The 6-0, 190-pound native of Chelyabinsk, Russia played in all 48 regular season games with the Kings in 2013, scoring six goals and contributing 19 assists for 25 points, setting career-highs in assists and points.

LA Kings defenseman Slava Voynov is expected
to receive a pretty hefty raise in a
new contract this summer.
(click above to view larger image)
Photo: David Sheehan/FrozenRoyalty.net

EL SEGUNDO, CA — After the Los Angeles Kings won the 2012 Stanley Cup Championship, President/General Manager Dean Lombardi made good on his promise to bring back all of his players back for the 2013 National Hockey League season, giving them a solid chance to defend their championship.

One year later, the Kings advanced as far as the Western Conference Final, but only to be stopped in their tracks by the Chicago Blackhawks. But now, Lombardi is faced with that same challenge of trying to keep his team intact.

But can he? A huge obstacle in his path is the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, which calls for a $64.3 million salary cap in 2013-14, considerably lower than the current $70.2 million.

“It’s unfortunate, the way this Collective Bargaining Agreement worked for us,” Lombardi lamented. “One of the by-products of going slowly was to be able to build this thing, and keep it together. We were clearly on that path, with $6 million in cap space this year, and we brought the whole team back.”

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